Half a month's worth of rain fell in parts of the UK on Monday night as the summer dry spell came to an abrupt end.

And forecasters have predicted further downpours will follow this week, with low pressure moving across the country.

Due to a weather system bringing warm, moist air from the Atlantic, West Glamorgan in Wales saw about 1.5in (39.2mm) of rain in just 12 hours.

With national rainfall averages for the month of August coming in at 3.5in (89.5mm), Met Office meteorologist Mark Wilson said it was "quite a lot", especially after a dry July.

He added: "Quite a few places in the south of the UK - the West Country in particular - saw about an inch of rain or 25mm-30mm.

"Interestingly, last month, the Isle of Wight saw barely any rain at all - yet through the course of that 12-hour period on Monday they saw 23mm (0.9in) of rain at St Catherine's Point."

Swanage in Dorset recorded 1.3in (33.6mm) in 12 hours, Wych Cross in East Sussex saw just over 1in (26.4mm) in that same period and Alice Holt Lodge in Hampshire clocked up almost 1in (25.2mm), w hile Larkhill in Wiltshire saw 0.9in (23.2mm).

Mr Wilson said: "The rain is gradually easing off, but it is still hanging around across some southern counties, so it will bring some further rain over the course of today."

He said temperatures are around average for the time of the year and on Tuesday highs of around 24C (75.2F) were expected.

By the end of the day Mr Wilson said it will "turn dry across England and Wales, but we will see the rain across Northern Ireland pushing its way gradually into Scotland and northern parts".

On Wednesday there will be another area of low pressure pushing in from the Atlantic, which Mr Wilson said will bring quite heavy and frequent showers especially in north-western parts of the UK.

"Right across the UK it will be an unseasonably windy day tomorrow and we could see gusts of up to 35-40mph across western exposures," he added.

The latest update from the Environment Agency (EA) at 2pm showed a single flood alert in place, for the River Tamar in north Cornwall, after widespread rainfall over night.

An EA spokesman said there had been no reports of flooding in the last 24 hours.